For Humanity
by chocolate rules333
Summary: The troops are being overwhelmed, and if someone doesn't act soon all of Nico's friends will be consumed by titans. Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the sake of humanity.


**I'm not sure if there are a lot of people who like both Attack on Titan and Percy Jackson, but I sure do. This is not a happy story. Fair warning.**

Nico di Angelo breaths heavily, pausing on the top of a roof to momentarily catch his breath. He ignores the screams of his friends and comrades, trying hard just to focus on his own heartbeat. He knows he can't take long, but allows himself a moment to assess the situation. There are three titans, two 5 meter class and one ten meter, to his right. To his left, his remaining friends from the survey corps are taking on at least twelve other titans. They are disgustingly outnumbered.

Everythings looks bleak. Not that they haven't been in tough spots before, but this is far worse. If something doesn't change soon they run the risk of all being wiped out.

The situation started off bad when an aberrant with immense speed and agility had taken out two of their members in one bloody bite. Percy and Annabeth had raced after it, determined to defeat it. They hadn't returned.

Things have gone downhill from there, until absolute hell. He shutters at the musky scent of blood in the air. They need to retreat, but Nico has no idea where command is and they're nearly surrounded.

They have to act quickly. Given a few more minutes, they will be completely overwhelmed. He's on the brink of forming an insane plan, when his sister, Hazel, appears from behind the building.

She gracefully aims her 3D maneuver gear at a Titan's neck and rockets towards it, effortlessly dodging its hand. In one strike, she slices it's vital area and glides smoothly to where Nico is watching the chaos. Her boyfriend, Frank, lands clumsily beside her, shaking. His hair is dripping blood, but the pair is otherwise unscathed.

"You okay, Nico?" Hazel asks, concerned. Leave it to her to be worried about him when all of their friends are fighting for their lives.

He grunts instead of answering. "We're all going to die here at this rate," he grumbles.

Hazel's face falls, but she says nothing. If sweet little Hazel Levesque can't find a way to be optimistic, things can't get much worse. Her fingers weave through Frank's and she shuts her eyes momentarily. "We'll just have to fight to the end," she replies, voice wavering. "That's our responsibility as humanity's soldiers."

"Wasting our lives on a suicide mission," Frank adds darkly, as he squeezes Hazel's fingers.

Nico clenches his fists. Not again. He remembers years ago; waiting for Bianca to return home from her first mission. The feeling when he realized she would never come back. She was the only family he had at the time. It was Hazel who had pulled him back together; Hazel and his friends. No, he would not lose his family again.

"I might have a plan," Nico says, face blank.

Hazel and Frank turned to him in astonishment, but he continues before they can say anything. "Frank, get everyone out. Retreat. You're a great leader. You can do it."

"But-"

"I'll distract the titans. I can probably buy you five minutes tops. If you play your cards right that should be just enough time to escape."

Hazel grips Nico's arm. "No! Are you an idiot?" she hisses, clutching his wrist like a lifeline.

"If we don't do something no one will escape."

"Then I'll stay with you," Hazel responds, glaring at her brother through teary eyes. "I won't leave you behind to die alone."

Nico shakes his head. "No, you have to live. You, and the six others are our best soldiers. You're humanity's only hope. You can't sacrifice yourself like this. You have to keep everyone safe, and prevent others from dying. That's the true job of a soldier."

Hazel glares, tears falling down her cheeks now. "You're being selfish."

He doesn't argue. "We have to act now, or it will be too late." Hazel glances down so he looks up to meet Frank's gaze.

The larger teen nods gravely. "I'll do the best I can," he consents, voice raspy.

Nico offers him a sad smile. "You have to go now," he orders.

Hazel is sobbing as she runs forward to hug her brother one last time. "I love you," she whispers. Nico presses a soft kiss to her hair and shoves her away.

"Go," he repeats.

Hazel gives him a final glance, huge tears in her eyes, before she nods and shoots off towards a nearby house. Frank moves to follow, but Nico stops him for just a second.

"Keep Hazel safe," he requests.

The older teen nods at him. "Of course." Then Frank is gone too and Nico is left utterly alone. He wastes no time as he runs down along the roof, towards the largest pack of titans.

The plan is a long shot. There are at least thirty titans clogging the area, and many more coming from all directions. The chances of Nico being able to distract even most of them long enough for his friends to escape are slim to none.

Nevertheless, it's the best plan they've got, and he has to try. Squeezing the handgrips, he aims his grappling hook for the nearest building and shoots through the air. He zigzags through the mess of titans, narrowly avoiding their hands reaching to intercept him.

When a titan forgets about him or gets distracted by the scent of humans trying to retreat, he shouts and circles back around. It works relatively well for about a minute, but it's exhausting to constantly dodge titans and agilely use the maneuver gear.

It's almost expected when one of his grappling hooks misses its target. His heart sinks as he crashes towards the ground, only for the line to go taunt when a titan catches it. Nico thrashes, and tries to get away, but he knows he's failed. His friends will be overwhelmed. Everyone will die. At least we went down fighting, he thinks idelly, as the titan's large hand closes around him. It stares down at him with unfeeling eyes, a creepy lopsided grin on its face. The last thing he would ever see.

He's resigned himself to death when a blur appears out of nowhere, slicing the titan's neck. It lurches forward, but the soldier swings down to grab Nico before he can hit the ground, or be crushed. They roll onto the roof of a building, both breathing heavily. It takes Nico a moment to realize it's Jason Grace staring down at him.

"What are you doing here?" Nico spits, struggling to stand up.

Jason shrugs. "Heard you were on a suicide mission."

"Then why come?" Nico growls. "You don't have to die. I'm just trying to buy them a few minutes."

Jason raises an eyebrow. "Then I'll buy them a few more."

Nico doesn't realize he's tearing up until it's too late. "Are Piper and Leo okay?" he asks.

Jason nods. "Leo's leg is pretty messed up, but if everything goes according to plan, they should make it out okay."

Nico wants to scream at Jason, and tell him to go away, but they've wasted precious time already. "Alright," he sighs. The he straightens and reaches up to pull the older teen down for a kiss. It's nothing more than a brush of the lips, but Jason doesn't seem to mind. He leans into Nico's touch, letting out a shaky breath.

Nico wonders if he should have confessed his feelings at some point. Perhaps he and Jason Grace could have been in love. But it doesn't matter anymore, and there isn't anything to say. Maybe in another life things could have been different. He doesn't have time to be sentimental now, so he pulls away and levels Jason with a steely gaze.

Jason nods, and the two shoot off in unison.

With Jason's help, corralling the titans is a bit easier. They have several close calls; once Nico nearly hurdles himself directly into a titan's mouth, but they manage to hold their own for a few minutes.

They're lucky there are no aberrants around, or they surely already would have died. Nico knows they are both nearly out of gas, and once that happens they will be basically defenseless. He could only hope his friends have managed to find a way out; that their sacrifice isn't for nothing.

Nico goes left while Jason goes right. He slashes easily at a titan's neck, watching the monster go down with grim satisfaction. He glances over at Jason just in time to see a titan's hand catch him mid-flight.

Nico lets out a shriek of panic, Jason's name on his lips, but he can't lose his concentration and he's too far away to help. He looks away and focuses on the task at hand, running off pure adrenaline as he slashes through yet another titan.

Still, he can't stop himself from cringing at the devastating crunch, or the blood that shoots to the ground.

He wishes he could have died first.

"Bastards!" he shouts as he launches himself at the nearest titan, stabbing with reckless abandon. He just barely dodges the hand trying to crush him.

Nico aims a grappling hook at the wall, but his gas has finally ran out. He breaths in deeply, and prepares for the worst, just as the hand he'd narrowly avoided seconds before sends him smashing into a wall.

He struggles to breath, staring into the monster's empty eyes. He once thought he would struggle or beg for life when this moment finally arrived, but he feels oddly calm. He shuts his eyes, takes one last deep breath.

Jason and he bought their friends as much time as they could. Frank wouldn't let them down; he'd get everyone out. Hazel would be safe. And there is no way Annabeth would have let one titan take Percy and her down. They would be okay. His friends would live to see another day.

As the titan lifts him to its mouth he thinks of a girl with golden eyes and laughter like bells, and another girl with dark hair who sings him soft songs in the dead of night. He imagines a boy with blonde hair and a scar on his upper lip offering him a hand on his first day as a recruit. Nico smiles.

_Crunch._

**I'm very sorry for this.**


End file.
